Piaget’s Phases of Cognitive Development

what is cognitive development

Cognitive development means involving conscious mental activities which are include understanding, learning and thinking.

The first major cognitive theorist was the Swiss scientist Jean Piaget (1896-1980) where academic training was in Biology. He becomes interested in human though a series of four critical stages of cognitive development.

Each stage is marked by shift in how kids understand the world and they answered each question which they discover in their environment. Piaget believed that children are like little scientists. How children think changes with time and experience and their thought process always affect their behavior.

The following are the stages of Piaget’s phases of cognitive development,

Sensorimotor stage (Birth to 2 years)

This range from times where by infant build an understanding of himself or herself and reality (and how things works) through interaction with the environment. It is able to differentiate between itself and other objects. Learning takes via assimilation (the organization of information and absorbing it into existing schema) and accommodation (when an object cannot be assimilated and schemata have to the modified to include the object)

Pre-Operational stage (2 to 6 age)

The child is not yet able to conceptualize abstractly and need concrete physical situation. He or she learn through pretend play but still struggle with logic and taking the point of view of other people. Object is classified in simple ways, especially by important.

Operation Stage (6- 11 ages)

At this stage a children begin to think more logically but their thinking can also be very rigid. That explains his or her physical experience. They tend to struggle with abstract and hypothetical concepts.

Formal Operational Stage (11- 15 ages)

It is the final stage of Piaget’s phases of cognitive development. It involves the increase of logic, the person no longer requires concrete objects to make rational judgments. He or she is capable of deductive and hypothetical reasoning. His or her ability for abstract thinking is very similar to an adult.